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The Icarus Factor
|image= |series= |story=David Assael |script=David Assael Robert McCullough (as Robert L. McCullough) |director=Robert Iscove |previous_story=Time Squared |next_story=Pen Pals }} =Summary= When the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, arrives at Starbase Montgomery to run diagnostics on its engines, Picard receives a message from Starfleet offering First Officer Commander William Riker a command of his own, the Aries, which is on a potentially dangerous exploration mission in a distant sector. Picard advises Riker that while the Enterprise is a prestigious assignment, it cannot replace the experience of having one's own command, and gives him 12 hours - the duration of their stop at the starbase - to decide. Riker's decision is complicated by the fact that the civilian adviser Starfleet has sent to brief him on his mission turns out to be his father, Kyle Riker, with whom he has an antagonistic relationship. After his father makes several attempts to reconcile, which Will rebuffs, the tension between the two finally boils over, and they agree to a match of anbo-jitsu, a form of martial arts. During the match, the two continue to argue, with Will venting his bitterness over the death of his mother. Will interrupts the match, claiming a move his father used is illegal, and realizes his father had only been able to beat him in his youth by cheating, which his father admits to. The two are finally able to talk and reconcile, and Will admits he is glad his father came. Meanwhile, Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher notices that Lieutenant Worf is acting particularly agitated, and enlists the help of Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge and Commander Data to find out why. The trio eventually learn that Worf, as he is not among his own kind, has missed an important Klingon ritual marking the tenth anniversary of his Age of Ascension. They recreate the ritual, which involves a gauntlet of Klingon warriors brandishing pain sticks, on the holodeck as a surprise for Worf. While reciting vows of honor, Worf undergoes jolts from the sticks with each step forward, enduring the extreme pain, and finally reaches the end, where he is grateful to his "family" aboard the ship for honoring him in this way. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan on Saturday, May 15, 1999 - 7:18 am: Why would Starfleet promote someone to a ship that was several months away at high warp? Weren't there any closer qualified personnel? Starfleet could have done this as a way of testing Riker, which would explain why his estranged father was the one sent to brief him. # Is this the same Aries in which Mendez steals a shuttle from and then flies to Tarchannen III in Identity Crisis? Yes - the notes for Identity Crisis in the TNG Companion explicitly states it is the same ship. # Presumably they use those visors in Ambu-Jitsu to make it tougher to find their opponent, so why do those sticks make that annoying noise? Actually, I think the visors are to ensure you can't see what the opponent is doing, making it more of a test of skill to react. # In Lower Decks, Worf told Ensign Sito that there was a Klingon fighting skill that involved being blindfolded, and Sito realized that Worf had made it up, but isn't this Ambu-Jitsu a form of blind fighting? (True, those visors wouldn't completely block one's vision, but it's almost blind fighting.) She probably realised that fighting blindfolded was a key element of Ambu-Jitsu. # If the Holodeck is programmed not to hurt anyone, then how did the Klingon pain sticks work? The recreation may have been programmed in a way to disable the safety protocols, in order to make the ceremony more realistic. # Alfonso Turnage on Saturday, June 12, 1999 - 5:33 pm: This episode brings up a point. I believe this is the first time that Starfleet tried to give Riker the captain's chair and Starfleet Command, according to the admiral in Best of Both Worlds Part 1, is annoyed by the fact that Riker doesnt accept the captain's chair. Excuse me, but isn't the Enterprise-D the flagship. I mean Picard is not just your average Starfleet captain, he reflects the eliteness that would go into a flagship choice. If Picard gets the axe in a battle or dangerous situation, then the "D's" first officer is going to be in command of the flag; the "D" might not get a chance to converse with other full captains. Don't they want an elite first officer in charge of the mission they sent their elite ship to complete? Ryan on Saturday, August 04, 2001 - 11:07 am: I can't attest to Starfleet being annoyed that Riker doesn't want his own ship, but it does make sense that when he's promoted to captain he'd get an insignificant ship at first. He'd be a rookie captain. As some pointed out he's even new as a first officer. So he's not about to get his own heavy cruiser to go play with. It seems right to me that you should have to start with the lower little ships and move up. And I don't think losing Riker on the Enterprise is a huge loss for Starfleet, I'm sure they must have another excellent top-flight first officer around somewhere By Will Spencer on Tuesday, September 05, 2000 - 10:34 am: Starfleet sure promotes officer in a hurry in the 24th century; a year and a half as Number One on the Enterprise, and Riker's ofered his first command? Mind you, I kinda think Riker's career has always been a little fast, compared to Picard, who's still just a 'captain'. KAM on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 2:45 am: Will, Riker had been offered his first command before becoming the Enterprise's first officer. See The Arsenal of Freedom for more info. =Sources= Category:The Next Generation Category:Episodes